


You See, It's The Shock

by Birdpeople (DeusExMachina)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Berlin Wall, It was kind of a style exploration piece, Ludwig being a smartass to police officers, Meta, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, There's no relationship okay they're brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 17:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2076075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeusExMachina/pseuds/Birdpeople
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Yes officer, but I don’t know where to start. Maybe- no, it probably doesn’t matter about the shock, yet. Anyway, maybe I should tell you a little about mein bruder to start with. No, it’s not a waste of your time, officer, please just hear me out. I want you to get an idea about Gil first.</p><p>            “He was kind of an unusual kid. He was an albino- no, officer, I’m not trying to say anything about albinos, I’m just telling you what he’s like."</p>
            </blockquote>





	You See, It's The Shock

            “Yes officer, but I don’t know where to start. Maybe- no, it probably doesn’t matter about the shock, yet. Anyway, maybe I should tell you a little about mein bruder to start with. No, it’s not a waste of your time, officer, please just hear me out. I want you to get an idea about Gil first.

 

            “He was kind of an unusual kid. He was an albino- no, officer, I’m not trying to say anything about albinos, I’m just telling you what he’s _like._ I remember that one time he brought home a little baby bird. It couldn’t fly yet, since it was all fluff at that point, but it wasn’t even that nice to look at.

 

“What? I mean, usually, you picture a chick looking kind of small and yellowish, but this thing was bigger than you would expect and a funny gray-white color. Gil didn’t know what kind of bird it was, but I told him that he’d have to let it go when it grew up. But he- officer? No, I guess it doesn’t really matter about the bird.

 

            “In any case, I was telling you what Gil is like. Well, like I said, he’s kind of unusual. For a while, he thought his best friend was a boy- no officer, it wasn’t actually that odd- Elizaveta thought she was a boy, too. I guess that’s a bad example.

 

            “Anyway, Eli told me that mein bruder was a bit of a loner before I came along, but I never saw any of that side of him. Yes, he’s only three years older than I am, but usually he acts much younger than that, and sometimes he acts older, I guess.

 

            “No, officer, I haven’t been drinking. I don’t really drink all that much. I don’t really remember the last time I had anything strong. Did Gil ever drink? Yeah, he did, but it was never anything irresponsible- or illegal, anyway. And he didn’t do it when we were younger.

 

            “Once, when I was about eleven years old, I came from school to find mein bruder waiting for me. He had these two wooden practice swords with him- no, I have no idea where he got them. I never asked. Anyway, he started showing me how to fight with that sword. No- neither of us ever took fencing, I guess we just did it because Gil said he felt like it. I remember he was worried about where to put his bird while we fought. That’s right, he decided to keep it. It still couldn’t fly, and for some reason it was growing up really slowly. I don’t think it was normal for a bird, but anyway, the fluff was just starting to fall out of its back and wings and- yes, officer, I’ll get back to the fighting.

 

            “It wasn’t that unusual for him to teach me how to fight. He had been teaching me how to fight with my fists since I was about five. Not that he would try to beat me up or anything- he just showed me how to do it and helped me practice. And later, when he started showing me how to fight with a sword, he would make sure that every once in awhile the two of us would have a pretty good fistfight so that neither of us would get out of practice. No, I never cause trouble, officer.

 

            “What’s that? No, I don’t think Gil ever owned a gun. Yes, I do, I just got it a week ago. No, I don’t really use it. I’m twenty. What’s the legal age? Never mind.

 

            “Gil isn’t really violent or anything, he’s just a brilliant strategist. I remember he was really good at chess. He didn’t like playing, though. He said the board was too small for him. We played soldiers instead, which he told me was similar to chess. No, officer, I don’t get how, either, although that could just be the shock.

 

            “That’s right, one in the shoulder and one in the thigh. Yeah, it still hurts sometimes, but I’m okay. I think it affected my thoughts more than my body. Now everything’s kind of disorganized in there. Yeah, mein bruder always said my thoughts were laid out in a grid, in separate file folders and labeled boxes. No, officer, I think he just meant I was organized.

 

            “Alright, so maybe I _do_ remember when I last had a drink, but it wasn’t that recently or anything.

 

            “Hm? No, I’m nearly done, officer, I swear. Please just give me a chance to finish.

 

            “What was Gil’s most prized possession? I guess I’d have to say his iron cross. No, see, it belonged to our grandfather. It’s kind of like an heirloom. He gave to it Gil on his seventeenth birthday. I remember that day. Gil let me put it around his neck, and then ran to look in the mirror. His bird was perched on his head, then. Almost all of the fluff had fallen out of it by then, and it was a bit bigger. It was kind of wretched-looking, to tell the truth.

 

            “Yes, officer, I’ll try to stop about the bird.

 

            “Did Gil ever run away from home? No, I don’t- well actually, there was that one time he left for about two months. How old was he? Nineteen or twenty, at that point, I think. No, officer, I can’t be more specific. The shock makes it a little hard to remember things like that. Although, I do remember that the bird left with him, and that, when he came back, it had started growing the tips of these really dark-looking feathers.

 

            “No, I don’t know where he stayed for those two months.

 

            “Yes, officer, we were both on the other side when the wall was up. No, I don’t remember why or how we were over there, on the East side. I think I had followed him or something. Anyway, I wasn’t supposed to be there. Neither of us was, really, but me more than him, I think. Gil just kept telling me he’d be able to get us both back over _here_ , West, I mean. I think that’s what kept me sane, in the end. Well, that and the bird. It was fledging, and its tail feathers were coming in, too- oh. Sorry.

 

            “No, officer, it was a long time, actually. A couple of years, at least. Yeah, Gil was pretty good about it. No, I don’t know what he did in that time. He never told me.

 

            “Actually, I only got here about a month ago. Yeah, it was really ironic. I got shot crossing over- one in the shoulder, one in the thigh, like I told you. I had to wait until night, and even then it was risky. No, I was losing so much blood, I lost track of Gil. I just knew I had to make it to this side and find someone to help me.

 

            “Yeah, they fixed me up pretty well, but the doctors keep telling me I should be over the shock by now. No, officer, I don’t think I am.

 

            “Yeah, I think I’ll keep on living on this side. I have an apartment and everything.

 

            “So what’s the problem? Well, as you may know, officer, the wall came down about two or three weeks ago. No, I’m not trying to be funny, officer, I just needed to make sure you knew that. It’s the shock, officer. I swear.

 

            “You still don’t see the problem? Well, I haven’t seen mein bruder since he sent me over here about a month ago. Yes, I know people go missing, but, you see, I really need to talk to him.

 

            “Why? Well his bird- you remember that bird I was telling you about, officer? It came and found me about a week ago. Yeah, all of its feathers finally grew in and everything, and I guess it came to find me. See, the thing is, I’m not sure at all what to feed eagles. So, if you think you can find Gil pretty soon, I really need to talk to him, officer.

 

            “Thanks, officer. Yeah, I’ll be careful going home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man. I haven't been into Hetalia for years. But I was too proud of this not to post it. Oops.
> 
> The whole bit with Gilbird is that here, he grows up to be a black eagle, the device on the Prussian flag. But his growth is super slowed-down so he can act as a metaphor for Gilbert.
> 
> My tumblr is quasi-birdpeople.tumblr.com


End file.
